Just a quick update! Life is very challenging here in the Florida Keys in the winter.

It is kinda hot so we have to run the AC more than we would like. The banana bush outside our window has way more bananas than we can eat. The fresh shrimp, mahi mahi and smoked wahoo prices are getting a little high. And there are way too many snowbirds!

But we would still rather be here! 😉

I’m sure you understand?

Here is a short video to let you see where we are staying. Looks like we might be here through April or so – then the idea is to make our way up to Maine to check out the lobster. Sounds like a good idea to us!

One of the main reasons we write these updates is the enjoyment from looking back and appreciating where we have been. It sort of solidifies the experiences. It is too easy to just keep on moving and put the past in the past!

Check out this google maps history of places we have used in maps in the last two years. That is so many miles and so many experiences!

For some reason, (maybe we did not use maps as much) but it really does not show our travels well from Florida back up into NW Oklahoma, back down through Galveston Bay and across to Florida again.

And that is where we pick up the story.

Last post we were heading east out of Texas towards south Florida again. Because it took longer to remodel and sell the boat I was working on in Texas, we had a deadline at Thanksgiving to meet. In New Orleans, a couple of hours was quite enough and it was nice to get some seafood and take it home to eat!

The damage remaining from Hurricane Michael to be seen just by driving across I-10 was unbelievable. They still had not cleaned up the trees down on sides of the interstate over a year later.

One of the best parts of traveling is the places we get to stay. Often we are only one of three or four RVs in the whole park! In and set up by 130 or 2, go round up some firewood for the evening camp/cook fire, and sit back to watch the sky do it’s sunset and night star dance! Here is a slideshow of some of our favorites!

Thanksgiving was spent at Ian’s house in Valdosta Ga, where much fun was had by all with their virtual reality toys. Shelly really got into the music game. It is truly amazing how far gaming has come since the day of Pong! I hope this video can play for you. This is the first time I have tried inserting a video like this. What you see on the screen, Shelly is immersed in inside the virtual reality headset. It is awesome!

We pointed the RV south to Stuart Fl and back to the Hatteras motor yacht we had worked on in the Spring with a goal to get it in the water and moved to a marina. All went fairly well and we were able to get the bottom epoxied and painted, and in the water in just a couple of weeks.

Then Shelly flew off to Seattle for a conference with her work with Atlas Service Dogs while the owner, Goose and I worked on the engines and generator enough to take a nice day trip up the Intercoastal Waterway to Ft Pierce Fl.

It had been over 25 years since running a 60 ft yacht but it was like riding a bicycle!

Our rv spot in Ft Pierce was in the same place as the marina, right on a little causeway a mile from the beach. Awesome! That first week we started some projects and made sure the boat was happy being in the water and then hooked up and headed north for Christmas in North Carolina.

Three days (and three state parks) later we pulled up into the mother-in-law’s drive in-between rains. I came very close to getting very stuck in the grassy yard and spent much time trying to rake and shovel in the deep ruts. Then it started raining again!

On the way out of town, I had a VA appointment in Asheville, so we left a bit early to miss the next huge rain and spent the night down on the Broad River. When we arrived that afternoon, the river was 3 feet below the banks. It started raining – again. In the morning the river was coming up under the RV! We decided it might be time to hook and and leave! You can see the water coming up behind our wheels. Scary.

I felt for all those permanent RV dwellers who seemed oblivious that the river was rising that fast – and if fact there was a video later in the day of a 5th wheel RV like ours floating down the Broad River!

Ft Pierce welcomed up back with sunny warm weather and lots of work to do. We got to a point in mid January where the boat was up for sale, and had been seen several times and it just did not seem financially feasible to put much more time and money into her. What to do next? Too cold to head north!

So – as seems to often happen – we got an invitation to head down to Islamorada in the Keys where there was another yacht needing some work and an open RV space for us to stay. Here we are back in the keys again! We even drove to Marathon and played softball for old times sake!

It looks like we will be here for at least a few months. But thoughts are already turning to Maine for the summer!

And finally we wanted to share this really cool drive through these tress on the way to the beach in Hobe Sound Fl!

A salt and pepper shaker combo on our table started a conversation you might find interesting.

Shelly and I have found that gratitude is amazing experience. Being grateful for everything you have creates more to be grateful for!

Our conversation turned to the people who have made such a difference to us, and have played their very crucial role to allow us to live a life we are so very blessed to enjoy.

(As we are in Islamorada in the Florida Keys camped next to a banana tree on the ocean sidewatching the sun set in a balmy 71 degrees!)

One of the people who came to mind was Michael Moore in Atlanta. Without Michael, we might not have been able to financially finish building High Country Stables. Michael was so supportive and helpful in several endeavors during our time in Atlanta, as well as being almost an uncle to the boys as they became Eagle Scouts and young men. Thanks Michael!

Rick and Mary Grubb also played instrumental parts in our lives in Atlanta. Without Rick there might not have been a farm at all. He supplied all the slate and literally tons of chicken manure fertilizer to help make our rings, roads, stables, and pastures a reality. And he was a great friend. Thanks Rick and Mary! (And we sure hope you are spending time in HHI!)

David Bates has become a friend while helping us along our rv travels. We are praying for the best outcome with his health challenges. David introduced us to his brother Paul here in the Keys and we are super grateful for both of these wonderful people.

Tim and Liz Tate out in Red River New Mexico took us in and made us feel very welcome and wanted for our winter out there. We surely hope to see them soon.

David White came into our lives and has helped us in ways hard to understand. (But Dave does!)

And those shakers are the coolest thing. When we were sailing, salt always soaked up the salt air and required lots of rice to stay fresh. Our good friend Dr Angel Tribuno gifted us these cool shakers that have collapsible lids to keep moisture out. She was also there for us our whole time in Atlanta as our Chiropractor and medical guru as we were rising two boys. Friends like Angel are very hard to come by.

There are so many more like Wade and Nickie, Joe and Sue and so many more. Including of course our boys who have made our life so fulfilling.

We are so very grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you!

And that is our update for today. Be grateful. It opens gates you would never believe possible.

Up with the sunlight – 530 or 6. Tea or coffee depending on your lifetime habits. Give the dog a cookie. Browse the crap on the internet and get angry wishing you could get even. Drink one of Shelly’s awesome breakfast shakes (and a piece of toast if she has made bread lately! – yum!)

One of us takes the dog for a run (or walk or bike depending on the knee that day) while the other does yoga. (I love to watch her do yoga!)

Then pack up. She is inside and I am outside. Trinkets down, clean up, cabinets latched, slides in. Outside the awning gets rolled up, chairs put away, truck backed up and hitched, electric, sewer and water lines off and stowed.

Get Goose into the truck and away we go! A couple or three hours and find a state or national park that hopefully has some surprises like great trails or something historical.

It’s routine now. Just the way we live!

First day back on the road after an extended stay is always a treat. Three weeks in Seabrook getting the 37 foot donated boat running and sold seemed a long time, but really in the scheme of things? Probably not.

We did get the boat running fairly well and we did get her sold. Not for a lot – but enough to allow The FEW to help more warriors. I know a lot more about 454 GM engines than before!

We did not get far the first day. After the morning of helping new owners of the boat with a little familiarity session, we drove about 30 miles north for a Chick Fil A lunch with Maureen and daughter Marley before rounding Galveston Bay to the north and east through Port Arthur to Sea Rim State Park. They did not have an RV spot but we could stay on the beach for $10. OK!

Here is the wild part. If you have been with us you might remember a few years back where we almost lost Goose to wild pigs on an island off the Georgia coast? Great reading story here if I say so myself. Made myself cry all over again re-reading it.

Well, here we are on this beach all by ourselves and guess what comes out of the seagrass to say hello to Goose? Yep – a wild pig bigger than he was! He barked but decided he wanted nothing to do with that pig! You have to wonder if (and what) he remembers. We certainly remember!

From Sea Rim, we wandered back roads through coastal Texas seeing old hurricane damage, very small villages still making a living from the sea, and every now and then a helicopter area providing oil rig deliveries with people and supplies.

As we passed the ports like Port Arthur, New Orleans and Mobile, the tankers, ships and tugs were everywhere. We also see this in the RV parks as many of the employees for these companies live with their families in RV’s like ours. Except they are more like mobile homes that never move. (And often a little bit trashy!)

Can you see in the mirror? I am passing a huge oil tanker in the right lane!

We did get a few hours in New Orleans and the French Quarter (which was plenty). It was different – loud, dirty, smelly, crowded (even in off season) – but still interesting. Good to visit but…

So we make our way towards Valdosta Ga and Thanksgiving with the boys. It is an event to look forward to! Then on to Florida and the Hatteras again.